The Magnitude of Muslim Atrocities

(Ghazanavi to Amir Timur)

The world famous historian, Will Durant has written in his Story of
Civilisation that "the Mohammedan conquest of India was probably the
bloodiest story in history".

India before the advent of Islamic imperialism was not exactly a zone
of peace. There were plenty of wars fought by Hindu princes. But in all
their wars, the Hindus had observed some time-honoured conventions sanctioned
by the Sastras. The Brahmins and the Bhikshus were never molested. The
cows were never killed. The temples were never touched. The chastity of
women was never violated. The non-combatants were never killed or captured.
A human habitation was never attacked unless it was a fort. The civil population
was never plundered. War booty was an unknown item in the calculations
of conquerors. The martial classes who clashed, mostly in open spaces,
had a code of honor. Sacrifice of honor for victory or material gain was
deemed as worse than death.

Islamic imperialism came with a different code--the Sunnah of the Prophet.
It required its warriors to fall upon the helpless civil population after
a decisive victory had been won on the battlefield. It required them to
sack and burn down villages and towns after the defenders had died fighting
or had fled. The cows, the Brahmins, and the Bhikshus invited their special
attention in mass murders of non-combatants. The temples and monasteries
were their special targets in an orgy of pillage and arson. Those whom
they did not kill, they captured and sold as slaves. The magnitude of the
booty looted even from the bodies of the dead, was a measure of the success
of a military mission. And they did all this as mujahids (holy warriors)
and ghazls (kafir-killers) in the service of Allah and his Last Prophet.

Hindus found it very hard to understand the psychology of this new invader.
For the first time in their history, Hindus were witnessing a scene which
was described by Kanhadade Prabandha (1456 AD) in the following words:

"The conquering army burnt villages, devastated the land, plundered
people's wealth, took Brahmins and children and women of all classes captive,
flogged with thongs of raw hide, carried a moving prison with it, and converted
the prisoners into obsequious Turks."

That was written in remembrance of Alauddin Khalji's invasion of Gujarat
in the year l298 AD. But the gruesome game had started three centuries
earlier when Mahmud Ghaznavi had vowed to invade India every year in order
to destroy idolatry, kill the kafirs, capture prisoners of war, and plunder
vast wealth for which India was well-known.

MAHMUD AND MASOOD GHAZNAVI

In 1000 AD Mahmud defeated Raja Jaipal, a scion of the Hindu Shahiya
dynasty of Kabul. This dynasty had been for long the doorkeeper of India
in the Northwest. Mahmud collected 250,000 dinars as indemnity. That perhaps
was normal business of an empire builder. But in 1004 AD he stormed Bhatiya
and plundered the place. He stayed there for some time to convert the Hindus
to Islam with the help of mullahs he had brought with him.

In 1008 AD he captured Nagarkot (Kangra). The loot amounted to 70,000,000
dirhams in coins and 700,400 mans of gold and silver, besides plenty of
precious stones and embroidered cloths. In 1011 AD he plundered Thanesar
which was undefended, destroyed many temples, and broke a large number
of idols. The chief idol, that of Chakraswamin, was taken to Ghazni and
thrown into the public square for defilement under the feet of the faithful.
According to Tarikh-i-Yamini of Utbi, Mahmud's secretary,

"The blood of the infidels flowed so copiously [at Thanesar] that
the stream was discolored, notwithstanding its purity, and people were
unable to drink it. The Sultan returned with plunder which is impossible
to count. Praise he to Allah for the honor he bestows on Islam and Muslims."

In 1013 AD Mahmud advanced against Nandana where the Shahiya king, Anandapal,
had established his new capital. The Hindus fought very hard but lost.
Again, the temples were destroyed, and innocent citizens slaughtered. Utbi
provides an account of the plunder and the prisoners of war:

"The Sultan returned in the rear of immense booty, and slaves were
so plentiful that they became very cheap and men of respectability in their
native land were degraded by becoming slaves of common shopkeepers. But
this is the goodness of Allah, who bestows honor on his own religion and
degrades infidelity."

The road was now clear for an assault on the heartland of Hindustan.
In December 1018 AD Mahmud crossed the Yamuna, collected 1,000,000 dirhams
from Baran (Bulandshahar), and marched to Mahaban in Mathura district.
Utbi records:

"The infidels...deserted the fort and tried to cross the foaming
river...but many of them were slain, taken or drowned... Nearly fifty thousand
men were killed."

Mathura was the next victim. Mahmud seized five gold idols weighing
89,300 missals and 200 silver idols. According to Utbi, "The Sultan
gave orders that all the temples should be burnt with naptha and fire,
and levelled with the ground." The pillage of the city continued for
20 days. Mahmud now turned towards Kanauj which had been the seat of several
Hindu dynasties. Utbi continues: "In Kanauj there were nearly ten
thousand temples... Many of the inhabitants of the place fled in consequence
of witnessing the fate of their deaf and dumb idols. Those who did not
fly were put to death. The Sultan gave his soldiers leave to plunder and
take prisoners."

The Brahmins of Munj, which was attacked next, fought to the last man
after throwing their wives and children into fire. The fate of Asi was
sealed when its ruler took fright and fled. According to Utbi, "....
the Sultan ordered that his five forts should be demolished from their
foundations, the inhabitants buried in their ruins, and the soldiers of
the garrison plundered, slain and captured".

Shrawa, the next important place to be invaded, met the same fate. Utbi
concludes:

"The Muslims paid no regard to the booty till they had satiated
themselves with the slaughter of the infidels and worshipers of sun and
fire. The friends of Allah searched the bodies of the slain for three days
in order to obtain booty...The booty amounted in gold and silver, rubies
and pearls nearly to three hundred thousand dirhams, and the number of
prisoners may be conceived from the fact that each was sold for two to
ten dirhams. These were afterwards taken to Ghazni and merchants came from
distant cities to purchase them, so that the countries of Mawaraun-Nahr,
Iraq and Khurasan were filled with them, and the fair and the dark, the
rich and the poor, were commingled in one common slavery."

Mahmud's sack of Somnath is too well-known to be retold here. What needs
emphasizing is that the fragments of the famous Sivalinga were carried
to Ghazni. Some of them were turned into steps of the Jama Masjid in that
city. The rest were sent to Mecca, Medina, and Baghdad to be desecrated
in the same manner.

Mahmud's son Masud tried to follow in the footsteps of his father. In
1037 AD he succeeded in sacking the fort of Hansi which was defended very
bravely by the Hindus. The Tarikh-us-Subuktigin records: "The Brahmins
and other high ranking men were slain, and their women and children were
carried away captive, and all the treasure which was found was distributed
among the army."

Masud could not repeat the performance due to his preoccupations elsewhere.

MUHAMMAD GHORI AND HIS LEUTENANTS

Invasion of India by Islamic imperialism was renewed by Muhmmad Ghori
in the last quarter of the 12th century. After Prithiviraj Chauhan had
been defeated in 1192 AD, Ghori took Ajmer by assault.

According the Taj-ul-Ma'sir of Hasan Nizami, "While the Sultan
remained at Ajmer, he destroyed the pillars and foundations of the idol
temples and built in their stead mosques and colleges and precepts of Islam,
and the customs of the law were divulged and established."

Next year he defeated Jayachandra of Kanauj. A general massacre, rapine,
and pillage followed. The Gahadvad treasuries at Asni and Varanasi were
plundered. Hasan Nizami rejoices that "in Benares which is the centre
of the country of Hind, they destroyed one thousand temples and raised
mosques on their foundations".

According to Kamil-ut-Tawarikh of Ibn Asir, "The slaughter of Hindus
(at Varanasi) was immense; none were spared except women and children,
and the carnage of men went on until the earth was weary."

The women and children were spared so that they could be enslaved and
sold all over the Islamic world. It may be added that the Buddhist complex
at Sarnath was sacked at this time, and the Bhikshus were slaughtered.

Ghori's lieutenant Qutbuddin Aibak was also busy meanwhile. Hasan Nizami
writes that after the suppression of a Hindu revolt at Kol (modern day
Aligarh) in 1193 AD, Aibak raised "three bastions as high as heaven
with their heads, and their carcases became food for beasts of prey. The
tract was freed from idols and idol worship and the foundations of infidelism
were destroyed."

In 1194 AD Aibak destroyed 27 Hindu temples at Delhi and built the Quwwat-ul-lslam
mosque with their debris. According to Nizami, Aibak "adorned it with
the stones and gold obtained from the temples which had been demolished
by elephants".

In 1195 AD the Mher tribe of Ajmer rose in revolt, and the Chaulukyas
of Gujarat came to their assistance. Aibak had to invite reinforcements
from Ghazni before he could meet the challenge. In 1196 AD he advanced
against Anahilwar Patan, the capital of Gujarat. Nizami writes that after
Raja Karan was defeated and forced to flee, "fifty thousand infidels
were dispatched to hell by the sword" and "more than twenty thousand
slaves, and cattle beyond all calculation fell into the hands of the victors".

The city was sacked, its temples demolished, and its palaces plundered.
On his return to Ajmer, Aibak destroyed the Sanskrit College of Visaladeva,
and laid the foundations of a mosque which came to be known as 'Adhai Din
ka Jhompada'.

Conquest of Kalinjar in 1202 AD was Aibak's crowning achievement. Nizami
concludes: "The temples were converted into mosques... Fifty thousand
men came under the collar of slavery and the plain became black as pitch
with Hindus."

A free-lance adventurer, Muhammad Bakhtyar Khalji, was moving further
east. In 1200 AD he sacked the undefended university town of Odantpuri
in Bihar and massacred the Buddhist monks in the monasteries. In 1202 AD
he took Nadiya by surprise. Badauni records in his Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh
that "property and booty beyond computation fell into the hands of
the Muslims and Muhammad Bakhtyar having destroyed the places of worship
and idol temples of the infidels founded mosques and Khanqahs".

THE SLAVE (MAMLUK) SULTANS

Shamsuddin Iltutmish who succeeded Aibak at Delhi invaded Malwa in 1234
AD. He destroyed an ancient temple at Vidisha. Badauni reports in his 'Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh':

"Having destroyed the idol temple of Ujjain which had been built
six hundred years previously, and was called Mahakal, he levelled it to
its foundations, and threw down the image of Rai Vikramajit from whom the
Hindus reckon their era, and brought certain images of cast molten brass
and placed them on the ground in front of the doors of mosques of old Delhi,
and ordered the people of trample them under foot."

Muslim power in India suffered a serious setback after Iltutmish. Balkan
had to battle against a revival of Hindu power. The Katehar Rajputs of
what came to be known as Rohilkhand in later history, had so far refused
to submit to Islamic imperialism. Balkan led an expedition across the Ganges
in 1254 AD. According to Badauni,

"In two days after leaving Delhi, he arrived in the midst of the
territory of Katihar and put to death every male, even those of eight years
of age, and bound the women."

But in spite of such wanton cruelty, Muslim power continued to decline
till the Khaljis revived it after 1290 AD.

THE KHALJIS

Jalaluddin Khalji led an expedition to Ranthambhor in 1291 AD. On the
way he destroyed Hindu temples at Chain. The broken idols were sent to
Delhi to be spread before the gates of the Jama Masjid. His nephew Alauddin
led an expedition to Vidisha in 1292 AD. According to Badauni in Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh,
Alauddin "brought much booty to the Sultan and the idol which was
the object of worship of the Hindus, he caused to be cast in front of the
Badaun gate to be trampled upon by the people. The services of Alauddin
were highly appreciated, the jagir of Oudh (or Avadh - Central U.P.) also
was added to his other estates."

Alauddin became Sultan in 1296 AD after murdering his uncle and father-in-law,
Jalaluddin. In 1298 AD he equipped an expedition to Gujarat under his generals
Ulugh Khan and Nusrat Khan. The invaders plundered the ports of Surat and
Cambay. The temple of Somnath, which had been rebuilt by the Hindus, was
plundered and the idol taken to Delhi for being trodden upon by the Muslims.
The whole region was subjected to fire and sword, and Hindus were slaughtered
en masse. Kampala Devi, the queen of Gujarat, was captured along with the
royal treasury, brought to Delhi and forced into Alauddin's harem. The
doings of the Malik Naib during his expedition to South India in 1310-1311
AD have already mentioned in earlier parts.

THE TUGHLAQS

Muslim power again suffered a setback after the death of Alauddin Khalji
in 1316 AD. But it was soon revived by the Tughlaqs. By now most of the
famous temples over the length and breadth of the Islamic occupation in
India had been demolished, except in Orissa and Rajasthan which had retained
their independence. By now most of the rich treasuries had been plundered
and shared between the Islamic state and its swordsmen. Firuz Shah Tughlaq
led an expedition to Orissa in 1360 AD. He destroyed the temple of Jagannath
at Puri, and desecrated many other Hindu shrines. According to 'Sirat-i-Firoz
Shahi' which he himself wrote or dictated,

"Allah who is the only true God and has no other emanation, endowed
the king of Islam with the strength to destroy this ancient shrine on the
eastern sea-coast and to plunge it into the sea, and after its destruction
he ordered the image of Jagannath to be perforated, and disgraced it by
casting it down on the ground. They dug out other idols which were worshipped
by the polytheists in the kingdom of Jajnagar and overthrew them as they
did the image of Jagannath, for being laid in front of the mosques along
the path of the Sunnis and the way of the 'musallis' (Muslim congregation
for namaz) and stretched them in front of the portals of every mosque,
so that the body and sides of the images might be trampled at the time
of ascent and descent, entrance and exit, by the shoes on the feet of the
Muslims."

After the sack of the temples in Orissa, Firoz Shah Tughlaq attacked
an island on the sea-coast where "nearly 100,000 men of Jajnagar had
taken refuge with their women, children, kinsmen and relations". The
swordsmen of Islam turned "the island into a basin of blood by the
massacre of the unbelievers".

A worse fate overtook the Hindu women. Sirat-i-Firuz Shahs records:
"Women with babies and pregnant ladies were haltered, manacled, fettered
and enchained, and pressed as slaves into service in the house of every
soldier."

Still more horrible scenes were enacted by Firuz Shah Tughlaq at Nagarkot
(Kangra) where he sacked the shrine of Jvalamukhi. Firishta records that
the Sultan "broke the idols of Jvalamukhi, mixed their fragments with
the flesh of cows and hung them in nose bags round the necks of Brahmins.
He sent the principal idol as trophy to Medina."

THE PROVINCIAL MUSLIM SATRAPS

In 1931 AD the Muslims of Gujarat complained to Nasiruddin Muhammad,
the Tughlaq Sultan of Delhi, that the local governor, Kurhat-ul-Mulk, was
practising tolerance towards the Hindus. The Sultan immediately appointed
Muzzaffar Khan as the new Governor. He became independent after the death
of the Delhi Sultan and assumed the title of Muzzaffar Shah in 1392 AD.
Next year he led an expidition to Somnath and sacked the temple which the
Hindus had built once again. He killed many Hindus to chastise them for
this "impudence," and raised a mosque on the site of the ancient
temple. The Hindus, however, restarted restoring the temple soon after.
In 1401 AD Muzaffar came back with a huge army. He again killed many Hindus,
demolished the temple once more, and erected another mosque.

Muzaffar was succeeded by his grandson, Ahmad Shah, in 1411 AD. Three
years later Ahmad appointed a special darogah to destroy all temples throughout
Gujarat. In 1415 AD Ahmad invaded Sidhpur where he destroyed the images
in Rudramahalaya, and converted the grand temple into a mosque. Sidhpur
was renamed Sayyadpur.

Mahmud Begrha who became the Sultan of Gujarat in 1458 AD was the worst
fanatic of this dynasty. One of his vassals was the Mandalika of Junagadh
who had never withheld the regular tribute. Yet in 1469 AD Mahmud invaded
Junagadh. In reply to the Mandalika's protests, Mahmud said that he was
not interested in money as much as in the spread of Islam. The Mandalika
was forcibly converted to Islam and Junagadh was renamed Mustafabad. In
1472 AD Mahmud attacked Dwarka, destroyed the local temples, and plundered
the city. Raja Jaya Singh, the ruler of Champaner, and his minister were
murdered by Mahmud in cold blood for refusing to embrace Islam after they
had been defeated and their country pillaged and plundered. Champaner was
renamed Mahmudabad.

Mahmud Khalji of Malwa (1436-69 AD) also destroyed Hindu temples and
built mosques on their sites. He heaped many more insults on the Hindus.
Ilyas Shah of Bengal (1339-1379 AD) invaded Nepal and destroyed the temple
of Svayambhunath at Kathmandu. He also invaded Orissa, demolished many
temples, and plundered many places. The Bahmani sultans of Gulbarga and
Bidar considered it meritorious to kill a hundred thousand Hindu men, women,
and children every year. They demolished and desecrated temples all over
South India.

AMlR TIMUR

The climax came during the invasion of Timur in 1399 AD. He starts by
quoting the Quran in his Tuzk-i-Timuri: "O Prophet, make war upon
the infidels and unbelievers, and treat them severely."

He continues: "My great object in invading Hindustan had been to
wage a religious war against the infidel Hindus...[so that] the army of
Islam might gain something by plundering the wealth and valuables of the
Hindus." To start with he stormed the fort of Kator on the border
of Kashmir. He ordered his soldiers "to kill all the men, to make
prisoners of women and children, and to plunder and lay waste all their
property". Next, he "directed towers to be built on the mountain
of the skulls of those obstinate unbelievers". Soon after, he laid
siege to Bhatnir defended by Rajputs. They surrendered after some fight,
and were pardoned. But Islam did not bind Timur to keep his word given
to the "unbelievers". His Tuzk-i-Timuri records:

"In a short space of time all the people in the fort were put to
the sword, and in the course of one hour the heads of 10,000 infidels were
cut off. The sword of Islam was washed in the blood of the infidels, and
all the goods and effects, the treasure and the grain which for many a
long year had been stored in the fort became the spoil of my soldiers.
They set fire to the houses and reduced them to ashes, and they razed the
buildings and the fort to the ground."

At Sarsuti, the next city to be sacked, "all these infidel Hindus
were slain, their wives and children were made prisoners and their property
and goods became the spoil of the victors". Timur was now moving through
(modern day) Haryana, the land of the Jats. He directed his soldiers to
"plunder and destroy and kill every one whom they met". And so
the soldiers "plundered every village, killed the men, and carried
a number of Hindu prisoners, both male and female".

Loni which was captured before he arrived at Delhi was predominantly
a Hindu town. But some Muslim inhabitants were also taken prisoners. Timur
ordered that "the Musulman prisoners should be separated and saved,
but the infidels should all be dispatched to hell with the proselytizing
sword".

By now Timur had captured 100,000 Hindus. As he prepared for battle
against the Tughlaq army after crossing the Yamuna, his Amirs advised him
"that on the great day of battle these 100,000 prisoners could not
be left with the baggage, and that it would be entirely opposed to the
rules of war to set these idolators and enemies of Islam at liberty".
Therefore, "no other course remained but that of making them all food
for the sword".

Tuzk-i-Timuri continues:

"I proclaimed throughout the camp that every man who had infidel
prisoners should put them to death, and whoever neglected to do so should
himself be executed and his property given to the informer. When this order
became known to the ghazis of Islam, they drew their swords and put their
prisoners to death. One hundred thousand infidels, impious idolators, were
on that day slain. Maulana Nasiruddin Umar, a counselor and man of learning,
who, in all his life, had never killed a sparrow, now, in execution of
my order, slew with his sword fifteen idolatrous Hindus, who were his captives."

The Tughlaq army was defeated in the battle that ensued next day. Timur
entered Delhi and learnt that a "great number of Hindus with their
wives and children, and goods and valuables, had come into the city from
all the country round".

He directed his soldiers to seize these Hindus and their property. Tuzk-i-Timuri
concludes:

"Many of them (Hindus) drew their swords and resisted...The flames
of strife were thus lighted and spread through the whole city from Jahanpanah
and Siri to Old Delhi, burning up all it reached. The Hindus set fire to
their houses with their own hands, burned their wives and children in them
and rushed into the fight and were killed...On that day, Thursday, and
all the night of Friday, nearly 15,000 Turks were engaged in slaying, plundering
and destroying. When morning broke on Friday, all my army ...went off to
the city and thought of nothing but killing, plundering and making prisoners....The
following day, Saturday the 17th, all passed in the same way, and the spoil
was so great.that each man secured from fifty to a hundred prisoners, men,
women, and children. There was no man who took less than twenty. The other
booty was immense in rubies, diamonds, garnets, pearls, and other gems
and jewels; ashrafis, tankas of gold and silver of the celebrated Alai
coinage: vessels of gold and silver; and brocades and silks of great value.
Gold and silver ornaments of Hindu women were obtained in such quantities
as to exceed all account. Excepting the quarter of the Saiyids, the Ulama
and the other Musulmans, the whole city was sacked."